Newspaper Page Text
PUBLIC SAFETY
To combat crime, local communities increase salaries,
boost budgets, plan new facilities
A rendering of the $90 million public safety training facility planned in Atlanta.
From left, Dunwoody Police Chief Billy Grogan, Sandy Springs Police Chief
Ken DeSimone and Brookhaven Police Chief Gary Yandura.
BY SAMMIE PURCELL
Amidst an increase in crime in the
city of Atlanta, public safety has be
come a key issue in the city and in sur
rounding metro communities.
Lately, many of those communities
have taken measures to find and retain
more police officers and to keep crime
numbers low, including increasing sal
aries for officers and boosting police
budgets. But is increasing police spend
ing the best way to decrease crime or
strengthen public safety, or are there
other initiatives governments could
also focus on?
A 2020 Politico report found that
while studies have shown an increase
in police officers decreases instanc
es of crime, increases in other factors
like healthcare access and social servic
es have been shown to do the same. The
report found that the extent to which
increased police spending makes for
decreasing crime rates is unclear.
Reporter Newspapers spoke with lo
cal officials for more detail on how gov
ernments have been addressing public
safety issues in the community.
Atlanta
On Sept. 8, the Atlanta City Coun
cil approved a controversial $90 mil
lion public safety training facility,
nicknamed “Cop City” by opponents.
The facility plans call for a mock town,
classroom space, a firing range, a fire
fighting drill tower, space for a helicop
ter to land in case of emergency, and
more.
The facility will be located on the old
Atlanta Prison Farm property on Key
Road. Critics of the facility say support
ers are falsely claiming it will help stop
the city’s current crime wave.
“We now see the manifestation of
what happens when the government
moves ahead of the population that is
trusting them to keep them engaged,”
said Atlanta City Councilmember Nata-
lyn Archibong during the Sept. 8 meet
ing when the facility was approved.
“This facility will not be built for anoth
er couple of years. To conflate the issue
of building this facility with an auto
matic reduction in crime is irresponsi
ble.”
During the 17-hour long public
comment section of the Sept. 8 meet
ing, 70% of the callers who spoke were
against the facility.
When asked for a comment on the
training facility and how it might serve
to improve public safety, a spokesper
son for the Atlanta Police Foundation
referred Reporter Newspapers to a web
site with updates about the public safe
ty training center.
“AFP continues to receive citizen
input from nearby neighborhoods
through the Community Stakehold
er Advisory Committee, created by the
City Council, which will help guide fi
nal design and construction,” reads the
website.
The first phase of the center is ex
pected to open in late 2023.
Atlanta’s future policy direction
when it comes to crime will depend
on the next mayor. Atlanta’s munici
pal runoff elections will be held on Nov.
30, where candidates Felicia Moore and
Andre Dickens will face off for mayor.
Results of the runoff weren’t available
in time for print publication, but both
candidates have made crime a large
part of their campaigns.
Brookhaven
At a Sept. 28 meeting, the Brookhav
en City Council voted to raise the hous
ing allowance for Brookhaven police of
ficers from $600 to $800 in an attempt
to “continue to attract and retain high-
performance talent within the sworn
police officer ranks,” according to the
ordinance.
“I think every employer is going
through this, having difficulty finding
people,” said City Manager Christian
Sigman. “We periodically look at our
salaries and non-compensation bene
fits to make sure one, we’re competitive
... We’re an expensive place to live, and
we're competing with other places that
are expensive places to live.”
The Brookhaven Police Department
also recently started a Drone First Re
sponder program, which dispatches
drones to possible crime or incident
scenes first so on-the-ground respond
ers can have a better idea of what sort
of situation they are responding to.
Brookhaven police spoke to the Amer
ican Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) about
the best ways to consider privacy and
safety issues when implementing the
program, but the ACLU still had ques
tions about the program’s necessity.
16 DECEMBER 2021| REPORTER NEWSPAPERS
reporternewspapers.com
BH